Cristo Foufas: Why do Sadiq Khan and other Labour politicians hate motorists so much?

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GB News's Cristo Foufas asks why Britain's drivers are being punished instead of helped

I remember when our leaders used to do whatever they could to make our lives easier.

If high street bins were too full? They'd plan to empty them more often, or maybe provide more, so people have somewhere to put their rubbish.

If you can't get through to speak to your council? They'd increase the number of operators and make sure more calls were answered.

When did this mindset change? When did our leaders decide the best way to address problems is to make them worse, in the hope of "nudging" us to change our behaviour instead?

Nowhere is this insanity demonstrated more than if you're unfortunate enough to be a motorist, especially in one of our major cities.

Not only are you seen as a cash cow with increased vehicle excise duty, petrol prices through the roof, eye-watering insurance costs and repair costs higher than ever, but every single local authority wants to make your life as difficult as possible. It's deliberate, it's spiteful, and it's pushing normal people to breaking point.

Nowhere is this demonstrated more than in London. Sadiq Khan, whilst languishing on the back seat of his five-litre chauffeured Range Rover, seemingly thinks of ways to make other, less fortunate motorists' lives difficult daily.

And it's working. Transport for London, run by Sadiq Khan, now receives the equivalent of £750 an hour in bus lane fines. That's a four hundred per cent rise from just a few years ago.

Millions in fines, from normal people, just trying to go about their lives.

It's the most perfect demonstration that the only growth the Labour Party is capable of is the growth in ordinary people being absolutely shafted by unfair penalties and taxes.

London has become a total nightmare to navigate for any sort of private motorist. Not only are many bus lanes 24 hours now, but as a driver you have to be on constant guard, not for the usual dangers one faces behind the wheel, but for the pernicious measures of TfL, which is openly doing all it can to make drivers' lives an utter misery.

The mayor claims he wants to reduce the number of journeys by car, implementing a target to have 80 per cent of all journeys in our capital city made by either public transport or walking and cycling by 2041.

This is a worthy goal. London is lucky enough to have a decent transport network. You'd think getting Londoners out of cars could be achieved by incentivising them to go by public transport. By making it such a no-brainer to use a cheap, efficient, safe, clean transport system, driving would seem like madness.

However, tube fares have gone up a massive 26 per cent since Sadiq Khan took office. Crime on the TfL network is at the highest level in history.

There have been triple the number of tube strikes under Khan than under either of his predecessors. That's aside from the "staff shortages" and signal failures which seem to happen daily on the network.

Why on earth would you choose public transport if those problems aren't being solved?

And that's the issue. Solving all of the above would require time, skill and money. Why bother trying to make public transport a no-brainer when you can just fleece the drivers you want to encourage to use it for as much cash as possible and claim you're doing so for the common good?

This is why London's drivers now face an absurd 20mph speed limit, even in the middle of the night, red light cameras, speed cameras, yellow box junction cameras, bus lane cameras, and parking restrictions, all in pursuit of issuing fines.

That's aside from the daily congestion charge, now at a staggering £18, which also operates at weekends, and Khan's loathed Ultra Low Emission Zone, all costing drivers more and more money.

These are workers who commute at unsociable hours, drivers who deliver goods, care workers who have to make multiple house calls, nurses who are on night shifts, and those who are elderly or have reduced mobility — all people who need their cars, and all people Sadiq Khan wants to squeeze as much money out of as possible.

Add to that the utter lawlessness shown by e-scooter riders and cyclists who think red lights are purely decorative, pavements used as race tracks, and pedestrian crossings routinely ignored.

Plus horrifically designed cycle lanes, which have taken road space from cars and increased congestion, low-traffic neighbourhoods and 24-hour bus lanes, all brought in under the guise of "temporary" Covid measures, and the ruination of London for car users is complete.

Is it any wonder black cabbies are leaving the profession in their droves, and buses, used by the poorest Londoners, have never been slower?

Of course, this is all deliberate. They call it "nudge" theory. Make it as awful as possible for car users, and they'll eventually give up. No carrot, just stick after stick to beat motorists with.

What does this mean in reality? The delivery driver no longer bothers. The plumber or builder gives up working in our cities. The carer your elderly relative relies on can no longer get to them. That night worker, petrified of getting public transport, is left to take their life in their hands.

But TfL doesn't seem to care. As long as it's raking in fines, that's all that matters. And if you're reading this relieved you don't live in London, so this won't affect you, don't be. The congestion charges and emission zones London loves are often repeated in cities across the UK. This chaos could be coming to a city near you.

What on earth did we do to deserve elected leaders who have made it their mission to make car use quite so miserable, who make it their mission, rather than to solve problems, to deliberately make them worse?